Labour and Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess has denied being biased against non-Bermudians but has again told them to stay out of local politics.

Mr. Burgess held a press conference yesterday after his UBP opposite number Trevor Moniz had accused him of being “thuggish” and seeking to curb free speech.

Mr. Moniz had also accused the Minister of showing a lack of independence from the Bermuda Industrial Union by supporting the decision to revoke a work permit from a Canadian construction boss who clashed with BIU official and Government MP George Scott.

But Mr. Burgess, a former BIU leader, said: “When I was at the BIU, and I’m sure it is the same thing today, we represented guest workers from all over the world. Never ever has there been a case of the BIU abdicating their responsibility of representing guest workers.”

And Mr. Burgess said there was no evidence of him being biased against guest workers as a Minister.

“I have said on many occasions I appreciate the contribution of guest workers to these country. We need them.

“We don’t have any unemployment so we cannot say guest workers are here taking Bermudians’ jobs. It is not so.”

And he said there was no record of guest workers accusing him of bias in the other realms he had worked.

Mr. Burgess said when he had spoken out about the exploitation of guest workers by some employers Mr. Moniz had not supported him.

But he added: “Any country you go in — you do not get involved in their politics. That is a common sense attitude you should take. I would never do it and I have never done it. I would be afraid to.”

Referring to the case of an English King Edward VII Memorial Hospital doctor who had been forced to resign after speaking out against hospital policy Mr. Burgess told the assembled media: “If anyone of you spoke out against your company’s policies you would expect to be dismissed.

“It’s a common sense issue.”

Probed on whether he welcomed guest workers getting involved in the BIU Mr. Burgess said: “That is not politics. The BIU is there to represent them in their work conditions.”

Asked if it was OK for foreigners who had married locals to get involved in politics he said: “If you have right to be here and a right to vote that’s something different.”

But he again rounded on LimeyinBermuda web blogger Philip Wells — an English computer worker who is married to a Bermudian.

“The way he writes about certain people in the Progressive Labour Party government is terrible. When our children read that what do you expect them to think?”

He blamed the articles for stirring up disharmony among the races. Mr. Burgess was asked if he was only attacking Mr. Wells because he had been critical of the PLP. He denied that and again said that foreigners should not get involved in politics of the country they were staying in.

Asked if Premier Ewart Brown had got involved in politics during his time in the States Mr. Burgess said: “I can’t speak to for what happened in the United States.”

Asked if it would have been wrong for Dr. Brown to involve himself in politics Mr. Burgess said: “Dr. Brown is not what I am here to talk about today.”

The Wikepedia website reports that as a student leader, Dr. Brown was a vocal figure during the Washington riots speaking alongside campus radicals and Black Panther leaders such as Stokely Carmichael. During the 1967-1968 academic year, Dr. Brown as student-body president of Howard University in Washington D.C. led a coalition of campus political organisations in a successful five-day take-over of the school’s administration building. He later took American citizenship. And the PLP made use of Trinidadian political consultant Roy Boyke who helped mastermind the party’s first general election win in 1998.

At yesterday’s press conference Mr. Burgess said Mr. Moniz had ample opportunity to respond to his comments in the House of Assembly both on Friday and Monday but instead had gone to the Press. “But maybe because Mr. Moniz isn’t in Parliament that long — if you look at the record it is marked ‘present’ but he spends very little time in Parliament, maybe that’s why he didn’t ask me there.”

And he said Mr. Moniz had been cowardly in his approach. He also produced a letter Mr. Moniz had written to Immigration complaining about a guest worker who had overtaken him in a haphazard manner and then made obscene gestures and mouthed foul words.

“Everybody has the freedom of speech in their country, everybody,” said Mr. Burgess.

He said Mr. Moniz had the right to complain to Immigration and the guest worker had a right of reply. In the end it emerged the guest worker investigated had not been on the bike as he had sold it to someone else.

Mr. Moniz declined to discuss his letter to Immigration, dating from May 2006, saying that was not the point. And he went on the attack again. Mr. Moniz said: “The minister has certain responsibilities and must not be biased and must exercise ministerial discretion in a proper manner.

“What we have seen is he’s not doing that. In fact he’s bragging about not doing it. People have human rights — the freedom of speech, in fact they are laws. Whatever a person’s views they have a right to speak out. That’s all there is to it.”

Mr. Wells, who put his LimeyinBermuda on hold earlier this month, declined to comment on the latest PLP attack on his website.